A mouthwatering women’s 60m hurdles final is in prospect for Friday (7) evening following the semifinals earlier on the same day.
Former two-time champion and home favourite Nadine Visser, defending champion Reetta Hurske of Finland, Munich 2022 100m hurdles champion Pia Skrzyszowska of Poland and Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, bronze medallist two years ago all made it through.
Kambundji may be the marginal favourite after qualifying fastest, winning the first semifinal in 7.82. An explosive start was key to her success and although Visser pressured her, the Swiss athlete held her form to win by 0.03 from the Dutch hope.
Defending champion Hurske qualified third in 7.96. European leader Laeticia Bapte of France was heavily strapped up and limped home seventh in 8.12.
In the second semifinal, Skrzyszowska looked fluent as she triumphed in 7.84. Ireland’s Sarah Lavin was just 0.02 adrift to also book her place in the final. A finalist at the European Athletics Championships, World Indoor Championships and at Istanbul 2023, she is seeking her first senior international medal.
European champions eliminated in men's semi finals
The men’s semi-finals were equally stacked. Something had to give, and it was current European men’s sprint hurdles champions outdoors and indoors Lorenzo Simonelli of Italy and Jason Joseph of Switzerland were among those eliminated, emphasising the depth of quality in the discipline in the continent right now.
France’s Wilhem Belocian emerged as a leading contender, qualifying fastest for Friday’s (7) final, winning the first semi-final in 7.44 from Spain’s European 110m hurdles silver medallist Enrique Llopis who clocked 7.49. There will be more Dutch interest in the men’s final as Job Geerds qualified third in a personal best of 7.54.
European leader Jakub Szymanski of Poland won the second semifinal in a photo finish from France’s Just Kwaou-Mathey, after both were timed at 7.49.
Championship record for Ehammer
The men’s heptathlon always promised to be one of the highest quality competitions of the entire championships and Friday (7) morning’s opening salvos served to confirm that premise.
In the 60m, Norway’s Sander Skotheim, who set the European record of 6485 in February, laid down an early marker running a personal best 6.93. Current world indoor champion Simon Ehammer of Switzerland also started strongly, clocking 6.81.
Estonia’s European decathlon champion Johannes Erm got underway with a season’s best 7.00. The competition really ignited in the long jump, when Ehammer – a world and European bronze medallist in the discipline – nailed a huge 8.20m leap in the second round.
It was a championship best in the men’s heptathlon. Skotheim delivered a solid 7.95m.
In the early session’s final event, Ehammer was close to his best in the men’s shot put with 15.15m, just 16cm shy of his lifetime best. Meanwhile, the best Skotheim could muster was a final effort of 14.39m. Germany’s Till Steinforth landed a personal best of 14.95m to move into contention.
After the opening three events, Ehammer leads with 2862 points from Steinforth of 2775, with Skotheim poised in third on 2707, with some of his stronger events yet to come. Erm, meanwhile is back in fifth with 2634.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics